Celebrating Kiwi-ness
Countless international critics have praised the universal themes explored in Niki Caro’s Whale Rider; what a reviewer for the Age finds most impressive is its quintessential Kiwi-ness. “Whale Rider sounds like it could be…
Tag Archives: Age (The)
Possum Bourne Mourned
Rally champion Peter “Possum” Bourne, who died April 30th (aged 47), has been praised as “a humble man with rare ability, a relentless competitor who inspired a new generation of drivers.” “The most successful rally driver in…
Conchords Take Flight in Melbourne
Kiwi act Flight of the Conchords was voted Best Newcomer at the 17th Annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival, following on from similar accolades at Edinburgh last year. The two-man performance – made up of…
Lest We Forget in Troubled Times
Due to the current world climate, ANZAC services in Australian and NZ this year carried particular emotional resonance CNN remembers an event “marked by both countries as a tragic turning point in their national development.” The Age: “In…
Age No Barrier
16-year-old New Zealander Chris Pither came second in the Formula Ford Track Attack at Albert Park, Melbourne. Pither has been racing since the age of seven, and already has three national karts titles to his credit….
A view from the edge: Topp Twins bring the noise
NZ musicians The Topp Twins and Jenny Morris played at Melbourne’s 27th Port Fairy Folk Festival. While Morris’ act was comparatively apolitical, the Twins pointed the finger at “stupid men” starting wars at the…
Believe the Hype
The Hyperfactory continue their good work at the forefront of SMS technology. Australian and British buyers are showing great interest in the company’s SMSJukeBox application, which has already gained over 70,000 members in New Zealand through ClubZM.
The Woman with the Whistle
Kirstin Daly has been made the first woman in Australasia to coach a men’s basketball team at national level. The former NZ women’s captain is to take the helm at Hawke’s Bay. Says club management; “[The…
From Trash to Flash
A NZ company – Waste Solutions – has provided part of the technology behind a radical new energy-producing venture in western Sydney. The project in question is an $AUS36 million power plant which converts organic waste…
Captain Kirk at the Helm
Former All Blacks captain, David Kirk, has been appointed chief executive of troubled Australian publishing company PMP. Chairman Graham Reaney believes the ex-Rhodes scholar and governmental advisor has what it takes to turn PMP’s fortunes around: “He…
Saint Cruise of Taranaki
Tom Cruise – Taranaki’s favourite adoptive son – has come to the financial aid of a local school. The Edge radio station had offered $5,000 to whoever could get the Hollywood star on air….
When Fact and Fantasy Collide…
Confused travellers the world over are trying to book holidays to Middle Earth’s fictional locations. According to popular internet site Yahoo Travel, Rivendell and Mordor are frequently entered as search commands. Yahoo Travel’s Morgan Williams: “Personally I’d…
The Next Big Swing
Dunedin golfer Mahal Pearce has registered on the international radar after a close win at January’s NZ Open. Pearce – already dubbed “the man with the million-dollar swing” – finished just two strokes ahead of Brett Rumford….
Pick of the critics
Peter Jackson has received a nomination for best director from the London Film Critics Circle for his work on Lord of the Rings. The prestigious awards are chosen by London reviewers and are to be presented…
Rings blitzes box-office
The Two Towers has set new box-office records around the globe, breaking those set by its predecessor last year. The film made $5.2 million on its first day of release in Australia, and
Frodo Air
An Air NZ Boeing 747 has become the latest (and largest) Lord of the Rings billboard. The plane sports a 36m image of the hobbit leads down either side of its fuselage. The advertising is part…
Politically correct
“The Capitol is our castle, our shrine”, says author and historian David McCullough, “and Waddell has snapped it to life.” Smithsonian Magazine. Kiwi Peter Waddell has boldly gone where no artist has painted…
Making myths
Lower-Hutt author Lloyd Jones gives the Aussies something heavier than Pavlova to think about: “Now and then someone will write a book in the smaller country that demands the bigger country sit up and…
Possum Fur-y Unfashionable
”I should break your other bloody arm.” At a Prada party Daily Telegraph fashion editor, Hilary Alexander, famously incurs the wrath of a PETA activist Dan Matthews for wearing a possum-fur sling. ”I was…
Soft edge scenery?
BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s dinosaur romp The Lost World: shot “against the glorious backdrop of New Zealand’s South Island … New Zealand offered diverse landscapes in relatively easy conditions. “New Zealand has a…
Wonder Mare
NZ-bred wonder mare Sunline is set to race on in the spring, poised to continue a record breaking run of victories. Presently Sunline is one race short of the record for group one wins set by…
“A work of almost perfect pitch”
CK Stead’s new novel The Secret History of Modernism reviewed inThe Age: “Stead is very clever and he’s comfortable on this ground, patrolling that sometimes misty territory between truth and invention, between history and…
Jihad … whoops, I mean Shihad
NZ rockers Shihad undergo cosmetic change post-Sept 11 after concerns were raised about the band name’s similarity to the word jihad, (meaning holy war). The name Shihad was taken from a mis-spelling…
The tyranny of distance
…didn’t stop Russell Crowe…talking at the Berlin Film Festival about his edge: “Growing up in New Zealand or Australia you look outwards, fully aware you’re living in the last two major land masses to…
Speaking in tongues
Applauded young Aotearoa actress Madeleine Sami, dodges questions about her involvement with Rings star Elijah Woods (“we kind of hung out and went to the movies a bit”), a day after Woods confesses he’s…
Strutting in their genes
New Zealand’s “young kid band with famous fathers”, otherwise known as Betchadupa, tours Australia for the Big Day Out series. Frontman Liam Finn bears the iconic surname of Split Enz and Crowded House…
Truly, madly, deeply explicit
New Zealand actor Kerry Fox visits Sydney to promote her controversial new film, Intimacy and offers this boyfriend-friendly pronouncement on her method: “Its not sex. It’s not lovemaking. It’s pretend”, says Fox of the…
Fellowship of the Rings?
Our neighbours across the Tasman have always thought of themselves as Big Brother, now they want to share toys: “anything which is good for Australia is good for New Zealand, and vice versa. Anyone…
Hoop Dream
The Tall Blacks NZ Basketball Team has shocked Australia, winning their 3-game series to earn a place among the world’s top basketball nations at the World Titles next year. Says NZ coach Tab Baldwin: “Today, it’s a…
The Fox Boy
The 19th-century studio portrait of a young Maori boy aged five or six, dignified but standing taut and uncommunicative, captured the imagination of New Zealand writer Peter Walker, The result was The Fox Boy…
Kiwi Bashing is No Joke
Air New Zealand’s role in the financial difficulties of Ansett Australia has created heated comment in the Australian media. “In recent days it has not been difficult to come by jokes and derisive comments about New Zealanders….
September 11
New Zealanders and Australians unite in New York City to share their grief at the loss of antipodean lives on September 11th. Kiwi Alan Beaven, a leading environmental lawyer based in California, was on the hijacked plane that…
ANZUS Shmanzus
“The Chinese are not coming, the Russians are not coming, the Indonesians are not even coming. Time has moved on.” Helen Clark doesn’t miss ANZUS – and doesn’t think she will any time soon.
Kiwi Koala
New Zealand film company Daybreak Pacific imported actors and animatronic Koala’s to Auckland for the shooting of Ozzie, a New Zealand made film featuring an Australian icon.
Fur Patrol on patrol
Ex-Wellington band Fur Patrol build up a loyal fan base in Melbourne, their new home, clocking up 2 miles supporting acts like Neil Finn and Killing Heidi.
Big Jump
“New Zealander St Steven completed a rare double and put himself in contention to be named Australia’s champion jumper for 2000-01 with his win in the $120,000 A.V.Hiskens Steeplechase at Moonee Valley yesterday.”
Chill of Fame
Russell Crowe would be the crowd-pulling choice to play Earnest Shackleton in the bio-pic Endurance, about the ill-fated South Pole expedition of 1914-15. Did you know: captain of Shackleton’s epic Artic voyage was NZ…
Energetic Performance
Bringing energy to the Aussies, New Zealand super-drink V grows Frucor revenue 27%.
Riding High
Kiwi wonder-kid jockey Michael Walker rides for Aussie trainer Lee Freedman at the Anniversary Cup in Queensland.
Get Up Stand Up – Kiwi Cultural Laboratory
New Zealand doesn’t get the attention it deserves as a “kind of cultural laboratory for issues such as the rights of indigenous inhabitants or the equality of women”.
Hot Shit!
Renewable Energy Corporation, powered by New Zealander Paul Williams’ organic waste energy generation technology, signs to put power-plants next to pig farms in North Carolina. The plants will gasify pig manure and burn the gas to…
Fractured fairytale
“It’s not often you can say an animated feature’s rich in subtext, but much-acclaimed fractured fairytale Shrek fits the description… beneath striking visuals and a classic hero-princess-villain story arc, there’s a frothy adult undercurrent…
Finn forum
Neil Finn at the Forum: “It was magic. It was intimate, it was funny. And above all, reverential”. Also, Finn in Sydney.
Milking Size
Global Dairy Co. New Zealand’s newly-formed giant dairy company looks to the Australian industry for further expansion. Also, we want to be fifth in the world, size-wise, says Global Dairy Company chairman John Roadley.
Rock art
New Zealander Chris Grosz designed tour posters for promoters Michael Coppel and Zev Isaac, producing pop art-influenced images. “I wanted the posters to stand up and be proud – bright and strong, in full…
Blast from the Past
Edge inventor Paul Williams’ gasification technology leads the way in turning waste into energy.
Intimacy and anguish
New Zealand actress Kerry Fox’s award-winning work in Intimacy continues to generate curiosity, awe and pursed lips: Getting Intimate in the Sunday Times; Truely, madly, explicitly in The Observer and Hanif…
Wellywood
Dead oliphants at Plimmerton, hobbit cities and epic battles: just the beginning for “Wellywood”.
Bravery Remembered
Sixty years ago New Zealanders fought and died on Crete. Veterans and locals commemorate the battle. Also, Helen Clark pays tribute to the 671 New Zealand soldiers killed at Galatas.
Top Price Drinking
Three Rivers shiraz is Australia’s most exclusive wine, an in-crowd signifier with the big money crowd. New Zealand wine-maker Chris Ringland is the man behind the thousand dollar bottles.
Buzz From Cannes
“This will be the biggest movie of all time” – John Rhys-Davis in National Post preview and cast interviews; Rings “hottest show at Cannes” in The Age; BBC reports “gargantuan bash”;…
Fashioning humour
Kiwi comedy queen Cal Wilson on frocks and laughter in the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Hello Kitty
Kiwi comic Cal Wilson brings home the laughs: “God’s Little Poppet verges on brilliance, as does Krystalle the exotic dancer. Krystalle is close to a work of art; a lap dancer who forces her…
Kan 007
Secret Asian Raybon Kan infiltrates the Melbourne comedy scene with a “sharp, contemporary and observant” show.
